CBR reports on last week’s Spotlight on Ethan Van Sciver at Comic-Con. Among other things, he talked about redesigning Wally West’s costume and how he sees the personalities of Barry Allen and Wally West.
“I’m redesigning Wally West’s costume right now, and it’s terrifying.” While Sinestro’s costume, with its seemingly random blue color and “jester collar,” was ready for a redesign in Van Sciver’s eyes, “Wally West is the most perfectly designed costume ever, aside from Green Lantern’s costume, in my opinion.” Van Sciver said the challenge was to redo the costume without either making it less cool or more cool than Barry Allen’s and thus implying that one character is better than the other.
“I want Barry to come back and be King Arthur. He’s the most straight-laced, perfect Flash, rigid in his morality and his ethics,” making the looser, cooler, more laid-back Wally a Lancelot figure. Van Sciver told the audience “Kick me in the ass if I fail.”
So there’s at least some hope for Wally fans that he won’t be totally shoved off to the side. Maybe.
On the other hand, he also confirmed that the monthly Flash series will “stop” for Flash: Rebirth. How it will be relaunched afterward — picking up where it left off, or where Barry’s series left off — or with a new #1 — he wouldn’t say.
What the heck? They are redesigning Wally’s costume? He earned that costume and has put his own subtle but distinct look on it and I see absolutely no reason for them to redesign it or change it. I can see it now. Just like Kyle(Rayner) DC is planning to throw Wally to the wolves. Yeah he will be around, but not in any capacity that any modern reader wants to experience. It’s sad because we all saw this coming from a mile away. They’ve wanted Wally gone for a while now and unfortunately they may finally get it done. First with the Infinite Crisis disappearance and then Bart replacing him, to Mark Waid’s(Who I love to death btw) disastrous return, to the appearance of some of the most annoying kids in comicdon. It’s like the end of yet another era. I’m still optimistic about Barry’s return but I don’t see this as being anything good for Wally.
I could be wrong, but it doesn’t sound like Ethan Van Sciver intends to completely reinvent Wally’s costume. The idea seems to be to create a design that would serve to more easily differentiate between him and Barry. And the Wally’s “Lancelot” to Barry’s “king Arthur” analogy suggests that Wally is an integral part of the story.
I’m also a Green lantern fan, and I think the comparisons between what is happening to Wally and the current fate of Kyle Raynor are just fine. Kyle is still very much an important player in GL stories, and arguably the protagonist of Green Lantern Corps. If Wally’s fate is to be similar, then I don’t think he is going to come out of this looking bad at all.
If Wally’s costume is perfect, why fix it?
EVS, you’re great, but come on. Don’t fix what’s not broken D:
I would think that Wally would want Barry to have his costume back. Wally has made a “name” for himself so he would want to stand on his own.
The potential is for Wally to become more like “Ion” than a secondary Flash. Jay Garrick has never left and has always carried the “Flash” mantle, but there’s always been a clear distinction between Jay and Wally. This could be the chance for Wally to become some great character of his own, so I see it as a positive thing.
Personally, I’m looking forward to seeing Barry return to the role he was best at. Unlike Hal Jordan (who never really left thanks to his roles as Parallax and Spectre), Barry’s been pretty much gone the whole time and this will be a welcome comeback. We haven’t grown tired of him before he shows up, and I really enjoyed him as the Flash more than any other.
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Ah great…20+ years of building up Wally West–the man who finally lived up to the promise—to succeed his predecessor. And now…he gets shoved aside because whiny people who could NEVER let Barry Allen go FINALLY get their wish! I feel it unfair because I believe that this is Wally’s time…hell…I was even getting used to BART when Wally passed the mantle on. But Barry fanatics just wouldn’t let go—and now, the Great Saint of DC…whose death was so noble…gets to come back, and essentially push Wally back into sidekick status. I kinda like The Flash to be ONE guy…NOT an anthology title. To have more than one Flash running around…gets to be too much. Look, I’m willing to accept Jay…but Barry coming back…just dilutes the Flash. At least when Bart was the Flash…it was him and him alone–and I liked that…I accepted it. Barry coming back just creates problems for me. It dilutes the hero too much. I know the Flash is about legacy…but that doesn’t mean you need all of them ALIVE to accomplish that. Barry being alive takes away all the years that Baron/Loebs/Waid/Johns had spent and devoted to helping Wally become not just Barry Allen’s replacement…but heir to the mantle of The Flash. This destroys all those years of hard work to make Wally on par with his peers. And to change his uni? Just go back to the one Greg LaRocque gave…it was distinct enough. To totally redesign Wally’s uniform? Jeez…just give him back his Kid Flash outfit already…Only need ONE Flash dressed up like that…and it appears that most everyone would prefer Barry.
I just feel Wally’s getting the shaft…and it’s unfair.
But…that’s my two cents. I don’t expect anyone to buy into what I’m saying. I’m just a big supporter of Wally. I grew up on Barry too…but I accepted his death a long time ago…and felt it was RIGHT. He NEEDED to be dead in order to push Wally into his rightful place…now that’s gone.
Just a shame…
And, ironically, they call it “moving forward.”
I know, Kelson….funny, isn’t it?
Wow. What Mike and Kelson just wrote its what i’ve been thinking since i knew Wally was going to be kick aside -even if they say he’s not- But well, i guess we’re a minority.Unfortunately